"Tradition?? The only good traditions are food traditions. The rest are repressive."

"There are two
ways to think. The first is to trust to your ancestors, your religious leaders,
or your charismatic professors. The second is to question, to challenge,
to explore history for meanings, and to analyze issues. This latter is called
Critical Thinking, and it is this that is the mission of my web site. "

Human sexuality has two areas of concern for people who govern: population numbers (Reproduce and Multiply!) and social order (control your women!).

Human sexuality, since the time that men figured out that having babies was not a mystery controlled exclusively by women, has been to make certain that men know which children they father. If a man is to be responsible for protecting, feeding, and leaving a heritage to his offspring, he wants to know that these offspring are his own.

Whether family structure is that of one man and one woman or polygamous, the rules around the world have largely (in theory) been the same. The women are expected to be virgins or, if widows or divorcees, at least three months duration not pregnant, before marriage. This is, of course, in theory. In reality, many women throughout time have been impregnated in or out of marriage and have been abandoned by men who do not take such responsibility.

Today, responsible governments looking at population numbers (the first concern of sexuality) have promoted contraception with stunning results. Iran, the only Muslim country to do this, did so because they are running out of water! Iran cannot sustain a population of 70 million. By 2050, they may be half that. Elsewhere in the Muslim world, conflict is making inroads on population numbers along with fertility rate drops.

Thailand and the Philippines, a decade ago, had the same awful fertility rates and accompanying poverty rates (yes, they go together). Thailand adopted a contraceptive policy using implants, cutting their birthrate and poverty in half. The Philippines, because of Catholic Church opposition, opposed this program until now, resulting in a decade of population explosion and poverty explosion. Not smart. The Church still insists that "life" trumps all other concerns. What kind of life? Catholic rules on sex, marriage, and contraception have no biblical basis. They evolved with the church.

ISIS has invented a new sort of sexual order: Islamic Rape! They have systemized the process of raping captive women. Captives are told that as "unbelievers," they must be raped as the sanctified "religious duty" of their captors, who pray before and after the act. This is also a recruitment lure for depraved adolescents.

Another issue: soaring rape and honor killing in Europe by Muslim immigrants. The press in Sweden and Germany deliberately play this down to avoid "Islamophobia." But there is growing public outrage over immigrant men believing they have the right to rape, including even women and girls in refugee centers.

In the US, the great mystery is the ongoing fascination with control over sexuality by the conservative wing of the Republican Party, which trots it out every Primary season. It is difficult to see why this should be such an important issue until one realizes that in a group that has lost every other element of control, control over women is all that remains. Concern over "babies" is hypocrisy.

Despite the distraction of the loudmouth Mr. Trump, there should have been more attention paid to the comments of candidate Rubio. Rubio opposed abortion even in cases of rape or incest. He stated (quite without evidence) that few pregnancies are caused by rape. Then (ignoring the incest problem), said that he sympathized with a 15-year-old being pregnant; that is a very difficult thing. However, no matter how a child is conceived, Rubio comes down on the side of life. How generous of him! It?s not his body nor will he, or his party, support such offspring to adulthood.

Fortunately, however, his is not a winning election strategy. Women are watching---and voting.

And there is another cause for hope. Since the Zero Population folks back in the 1990s were wrong in telling us we were heading for so many people on the earth that there would be standing room only. Now, according to the latest UN prediction, by 2050, some 48 countries around the world are expected to see their populations decline by half! The one outlier is the continent of Africa. What wise policy will not do, Nature and human folly will.

681 words

Dr. Laina Farhat-Holzman is a historian, lecturer, and author of God's Law or Man's Law. You may contact her at Lfarhat102@aol.com or www.globalthink.net.